Work conducted and/or published during 2008 has addressed several general areas: 1) in utero exposure to tobacco smoke and age at menarche 2) maternal serum concentrations of various inflammatory mediators and subsequent pregnancy outcome 3) risk factors for preeclampsia 4) stability of vitamin D in long-term storage. [unreadable] [unreadable] Papers published in topic 1 indicated girls exposed in utero to tobacco smoke experienced slightly later age at menarche than unexposed girls, in contrast to previous findings. [unreadable] [unreadable] Results from topic 2 indicated that elevated levels of the chemokine ENA-78 preceded the occurrence of miscarriage, but that levels of IL-8, MIP-1945;, MIP-1946;, MCP-1 and RANTES were not associated with this outcome. In addition, among cytokines, thrombopoietin was associated with miscarriage.[unreadable] [unreadable] Results from topic 3 demonstrated that placental weight was an important correlate of small fetal growth. Other results indicated that obesity eliminated the inverse association between smoking and preeclampsia but did not alter the positive association between smoking and reduced fetal growth.